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There were two great loves in Gavin David Free’s life. One was well known (slow motion cinematography), one never even got mentioned even in his own mind (most of the time) and thus did not even warrant a numerical value, and the third second was probably easily guessed but never outright stated. April Fool’s Day.
April. Fool’s. Day.
The one day of the year where he could run amok and pull stupid, childish pranks and no one, not one single person, could get mad at him.
His day on April 1st began early. He caught the bus to the office in order to beat Geoff there, so the older man could be a part of the ‘festivities’ as well. It was 3:00 am when he arrived and began his preparations.
First: Geoff. He was the first in the Achievement Hunter office to arrive each day. He was also the one who kept control of their supply of alcohol. Vodka was replaced with water. Whiskey with tea. Beer with cream soda.
He was a prankster, yes, but he really enjoyed having a place to live, so Geoff’s was unfortunately a bit tame.
Next: Jack. Now, Gavin would admit that Jack was perhaps the most difficult to plan a prank for, but he was nothing if not dedicated to his craft. By 4:00 am, there were wires everywhere. Monitors, keyboards, and consoles had been moved so that their wires crisscrossed the entire room, creating a web reminiscent of the laser security systems in spy movies.
Third: would have been Ryan, but he was fortunate enough to have his desk in the warehouse, and Gavin preferred to keep his chaos within his sight. Thus, third on the list was Ray. For this, Gavin had to plan about a week in advance. He began baking cakes as soon as the idea struck him, and now began the process of cutting them open. Each item on Ray’s desk got its own cake, and after every single thing was stuffed into one of the delicious, baked goods, the Brit took them to the kitchen and frosted them shut. The cakes were then piled onto the other man’s desk, chair, and floor space.
Michael was last because his was the easiest to set up. His full set of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic figurines (which even included Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, plus Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo) was lifted, hidden, replaced with a full set of the original My Little Ponies.
With that, his work was done. It was really, truly a masterpiece. By 7:30 he was back in Geoff’s apartment, faking waking up late and rushing to the car before his boss and flat mate left without him.
By the time they got to the office, it was chaos, and Gavin was the mastermind behind it all, cackling as each Hunter walked in to find what awaited them. Screams of rage and dismay filled the building. Life was good. He was good.
It was around midday when he finally came down a bit and realized something was amiss. He was recording an episode of PIG with Michael and the redhead was being… uncharacteristically affectionate. Sure, when the cameras were rolling and the audio was on, they may as well have been the stars in an episode of Queer as Folk, but other than that, Michael normally kept his come-ons and pet names to a minimum.
After the third strange comment (“Oh, bloody hell! I can’t get over that little bugger right there!” “It’s fine, Gavino, you’re totally kicking my ass right now. And looking damn fine while doing it, if I may say.”) Gavin paused the game and looked at the redhead curiously. “You do realize we’re not recording right now, don’t you, Michael?” he asked.
To his immense surprise, Michael flushed. “Oh, right. I guess I forgot…? Um, my bad.”
Ignoring the flutter in his stomach and the goofy grin that was trying so hard to form, Gavin turned back to the screen.
The next time was no accident. Gavin, now hyper-aware of everything Michael did, kept seeing the ginger toss shy, furtive glances at him, a little smile tugging at his lips each time. Gavin finally turned, exasperated but smiling, and said, “What, Michael?”
Michael looked surprised. “What what?”
“You keep looking at me, doughnut.”
“I… I do?” The flush was back.
Gavin’s heart skipped a beat. He felt his own cheeks heat as he laughed, “Yes! I mean, I know I’m good looking—“ he paused, waiting for Michael to shoot that sentiment down like he normally did.
Michael did not. In fact, Michael gave him a slow once-over, that smile turning a bit Cheshire. Gavin took in a small, sharp breath and Michael snapped out of it, turning back to his computer with a slightly panicked look. Gavin could hardly believe it. What the hell was going on? Before he could put it from his mind and get back to work, Michael reached over and set his hand atop the blond’s.
“You’re my boy, Gavin.” His voice was soft, earnest, hesitant. Affectionate.
Gavin forgot how to breathe.
“You’re… Y-you’re my boy, my little Michael.”
Michael gave him a huge, sunny smile. Gavin’s brain flat lined. It was another five minutes before he could go back to work, and when he did, it was with that persistent, goofy grin firmly in place.
An uneventful hour passed, filled only with small smiles and tentative glances. Gavin left to use the bathroom and on his way back to the office, he bumped into Michael.
Well.
More like Michael barreled into him, pushing him back into the bathroom despite Gavin’s cries of, “Michael?! What the hell—why are you—“
“Shut up. Listen. I don’t… I don’t think I can say this more than once.” The redhead looked panicked again, but determined.
That unspoken thing, that other love he refused to acknowledge, tugged at his heart. He fell silent.
“Okay. I didn’t want it to happen like this. I was hoping for… for candles or at least some actual privacy, but I have the nerve now and while I have it I need to—“
Gavin reached out and grabbed Michael’s hand, squeezing reassuringly. “Whatever it is you need to say, Mi-cool, the place isn’t what’s important. As long as it’s you, I don’t care.” Jesus, his heart was pounding. Michael’s eyes widened, a look of shocked awe crossing his features before he smiled, carrying on.
“Okay. Right. I… Shit, this is hard. Okay. Gavin, I… I really, really like you. I won’t say love, because that’s cheesy and cliché as shit, but… But okay, I think I probably love you. I’ve never really known how to say it, but it just… I can’t let another day go by without telling you. Seeing you every day is the best thing about working here. I can’t… I don’t want to imagine my life without you. So if I could just not… if you could just—ah, fuck, I’m fucking this up, aren’t I?” The redhead looked frustrated.
“No. No, Michael, it was… perfect,” Gavin breathed, smiling so hard it hurt. He curled his arms around Michael’s shoulders and surged forward, laughing as he pressed his lips to his friend’s. There was a moment of shocked hesitation, and then Michael kissed him back, slow and sweet. He pulled away far too soon, though, chuckling and stepping back as Gavin tried to follow him.
“Not here. After work?” Michael said.
“Alright. Okay, sorry, that was…”
“Adorable,” Michael finished. That smile was back, and it was infectious.
“Not what I was going to say, but it’ll have to do. Alright, come on, you doof, everyone’s going to get suspicious.”
They made their way back to the office, only disentangling their hands when they reached the door. By unspoken agreement, they said nothing of their new relationship—after all, Gavin reflected, the best parts were the secret smiles, the lingering glances, the snuck touches.
Was there a cloud higher than Cloud Nine? Gavin was there. He was top—no, he was tip-top. Tippety-top. Top of the bloody world.
He was only flying higher by the time the end of the day rolled around. He’d imagined a hundred different scenarios for their first date, each of them ending in—well. Suffice it to say that he had no intention of returning to Geoff’s tonight.
The other Hunters began slowly trickling out of the office. Gavin joyfully declined a ride home from Geoff, waving away the older man’s confused look, giving no explanation for the refusal or his chipper mood besides, “I’ll tell you later.” With a shrug, Geoff left, and Gavin and Michael were left alone. Another few minutes passed (they dragged like hours) before Michael finally pulled off his headphones and turned one of those bright smiles on him. Gavin barely suppressed a swoon, leaning forward in invitation. His heart rate picked up when the older man leaned in, too.
“Hey, Gav?” he murmured, their lips millimeters apart.
“Yeah?” Gavin asked, smiling brightly.
They were so close that he could feel the warmth of Michael’s lips, could almost taste that mouth again.
“April Fool’s.”
Two simple words should not have had the power that those did. His heart fell, crumbled, shattered on the floor of his stomach and rained down on the floor around him, sharp shards that cut and tore at him on their way out of his body. That dumb grin on his face became fixed, plastic, frozen, stuck there for what would probably be forever.
Just keep smiling, Gavin.
“Oh, man, I got you! Ahh, thanks for playing along—shit, I wish we had filmed that, the fucking Mavin fangirls would lose their fucking minds!”
Keep smiling.
“Gavin?”
Say something.
“Sorry, I was just thinking of how awesome that would have been.” Gavin somehow managed to get the words out through his constricted throat.
What a fucking idiot you are, Gavin Free.
“Damn. Well, there’s next year. Shit, I’m late—I’m taking Lindsay out tonight, I almost forgot!”
Lindsay.
“Uh, do you, like, need a ride or—“ Michael paused with his hand on the door. When had he stood? How long had he just been sitting here?
“No, I’ve got work to finish. You go on, mate. Cheers.” His smile was starting to hurt for entirely different reasons.
“You Brits talk like assholes,” Michael laughed. He put on his high, falsetto voice, “Pip pip, cheerio, going to have a spot o’ tea wif mi dinnah. Haha, have fun working, Dickie Bitch. See you tomorrow.”
Gavin was frozen, stayed that way for a few minutes after Michael left, his smile wobbling at the corners as his world followed his heart’s lead and fell to pieces.
You’re a stupid, bloody idiot. Lindsay, how could you forget about Lindsay. How could you ever believe that that could be yours? You have no right. He will never be yours. God, how could you be such a sodding twit.
“Joke’s on me, then,” Gavin whispered, letting the damn tears come, rolling slow and fat down his cheeks as he stared at his screen.
There were two great loves in Gavin David Free’s life, and one great hate. One, slow motion cinematography, was well known. The second had broken his heart today after making him feel more alive than he ever had in his twenty-four years.
The one thing he hated, more than anything, was April Fool’s Day.